Adjustable bed.



D. HOGAN & G. W. MEINEGKE.

ADJUSTABLE BED.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1909.

' Patented July 12, 1910.

INVENTORS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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ADJU$TABLB BED.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1909.

Patented July 12, 1910.

2 sums-$11221- z.

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DANIEL HOGAN, 0F I-IOIBOKEN, AND CHRISTIAN W. MEINECKE, OF JERSEY CITY,NEW

JERSEY, ASSIGNORS T0 WI-IITALL TATUM COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A GOR-PORA'IION OF NEW JERSEY.

ADJUSTABLE BED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 25, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DANIEL HOGAN, a resident of Hoboken, county ofHudson, State of New Jersey, and CHRISTIAN W. Mninnonn, a resident ofJersey City, county of Hudson, State of New Jersey, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Adjustable Beds, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to adjustable beds as required in hospital,medical and sur gical practice, and has reference to such a bed soconstructed that the mattress and thereby the patient may be adjusted atany reasonable angle as to elevation of head or foot for the convenienceof the attendant, practitioner or nurse.

The object of our invention is to provide such a bed of simpleconstruction not liable to derangement and one in which the variousadjustments may be made quickly and easily and without requiring theapplication of undue strength on the part of the attendant.

A further object of our invention is to provide such a bedstead soconstructed that any adjustment when made is absolutely permanent andlocked against any accidental shifting.

A further object of our invention is to provide a bedstead as describedsuch that the adjustments may be made smoothly and evenly and withoutjarring or disturbing the patient.

A still further object of our invention is to provide such aconstruction for the improvements mentioned as may be applied to bedframes differing but slightly from conventional designs thus making foreconomy and speed of manufacture.

A still further object of our invention is to provide the adjustable bedof the class described with an auxiliary adjustment by means of whichthe upper portion of the patients body may be varied as to its anglewith the mattress.

Many conditions arise in medical and surgical practice which make theordinary bed of daily life very inconvenient and entail much unnecessarystrain on both patient and attendant. Thus, the average bed in tendedfor repose is generally too low and requires much stooping; in fevercases, also, where it is necessary to frequently bathe the patient, andeven in bathing ordinary cases, it is not easy even with liberal use ofrubber cloths and other precautions to avoid wetting the bed clothes andthe patient. In making medical and surgical examinations and in manycases of hemorrhage, in obstetrical cases, in the giving of injectionsand in many surgical operations, it is very desirable, and in many casesimperative that the body of the patient be inclined with the upperportion of the body either up or down. In all of the above instances, ithas been almost a universal custom, certainly in private homes, and to agreat extent in all of the best equipped hospitals, to accomplish thischange of angle or the raising of the bed as a whole by the use ofblocks, bricks, books or almost any other convenient adjunct placedunder the legs of the bed. In accomplishing this the bed casters usuallydrop out and as a rule the structure formed is so unstable either byreason of the materials used or the lack of skill in using them thatbefore the bed is fairly lifted one or more of the supporting meansfalls and the bed will drop to the very serious discomfort, if not tothe injury of the patient.

Numerous adjustable beds have been pro posed in the prior art. Many ofthem have involved considerable complexity of mech anism while others,simple as to mechanism, have provided for numerous adjustments. It isthe inventors belief that only two adjustments are desirable in a bed ofthe class described, namely, a general adjustment of change of level andan adjustment as to angle.

Referring to the drawings annexed which form a part of thisspecification, Figure 1 is a perspective View taken from the head of thebed showing the foot of the mattress support lifted to its highestlimit; Fig. 2 is a similar perspective view taken from the foot of bed,the mattress support being horizontal at its lowest possible level; thisfigure shows also our backrest adjusted in its lowest position; Fig. 3is a side elevation of our improved bed showing the mattress supportwith head raised and foot down at its lowest limit; Fig. 4 is a similarside elevation showing the lowest position of head with the foot onlypartially raised. Fig. 5 is a detail showing a modified form of one ofthe side bar ratchets.

Referring to the drawings, A, B, are head and foot boards respectively,and C side bars of our improved bed; each side bar has near each end arack 64 provided with teeth 5 extending upwardly and away from thecenter, thus forming grooves 1, 2, 3, etc., 1, 2, 3, etc., rounded atthe bottom and inclined downwardly and toward the center.

D is the mattress support comprising a stout wire mesh 0 stretched upona frame which comprises parallel end bars (Z, d, separated but joined bya trussed frame constituted of parallel and similar rocker bars 6,tension rods 7, and verticals g.

Pivoted near each end of each end bar d, (both at head and foot of bed)at h is a link 2'. At the bottom of the head links and at the bottom ofthe foot links are cross bars 7', j; the head and foot links arepreferably, although not necessarily, of the same length. At the headand foot of the mattress support, are handles, la, 70, by means of whichsaid support may be lifted. The cross bars j, j project on each side ofthe bed beyond the links 2' to an extent suflicient to more than crossboth of the side bars C while the links 2' are prolonged below andbeyond cross bar 7', j and are set and bent to pass just within andpractically in contact with the side bars G; this arrangement thuscentralizes the mattress support as to the width of the bed and preventsany lateral slip of said support while the two cross bars j j extendingoutwardly as aforesaid are adapted to engage the notches 1, 1 etc., athead and foot.

Fig. 2 shows the mattress support level in its lowest position with thecross bars j, j in notches 1 and 1. To raise the head, it is onlynecessary to stand behind said head and lift upon the handles is, 71:,rocker arm 6 on mattress support will pivot upon the foot cross bar jwhile the head cross bar 7' with its links 2' will fall toward the headof the bed into one notch after the other until the head is lifted tothe limit decided upon. The effort required to make this lift will be,relatively, quite small even for the heaviest patient owing to the factthat the fulcrum j at the foot of the bed is so far within the end ofthe mattress support and toward its center that a considerable part ofthe bodys weight is counterbalanced. Should the head be raised as inFig. 3 and it be desired to raise the foot, for example, to the sameextent, the attendant would similarly lift on the handles at said foot.In such case, the head of the mattress support being already raised, thefulcrum would not lie inside the end of said support but substantiallyat said end so that the patient would not now be partiallycounterbalanced, and the lifting effort required would be greater thanbefore, but still theoretically not more than one half the weight of thepatient. It must be remembered, of course, that the actual liftingeffort would vary in any case according as the head or the foot mighthave to be mattress support will start from the same bottom position butthe height difference represented by moving the cross bars from notch tonotch will be greater than when the notches are arranged horizontally.With this arrangement, also, the tendency to lift too high when raisinghead or foot is not so great as when the rack is horizontal.

1t should be noted that in lifting either head or foot of the mattresssupport, said support sometimes pivots on the cross bar or y") andsometimes on both said cross bar and the axis of h in which the links 2'of the cross bar are pivotally attached tothe support. This cross barand axis of h constitute together an axial system upon either or bothmembers of which the mattress support is adapted to pivot when the otherend of said mattress support is raised or lowered; in the claimsfollowing we use the term axial system in this way. It should be notedfurther that the cross bars j and j at head and foot with theirattaching links 2', 11, constitute two locking systems which, with theracks a on each end and at each side of the bed, hold the mattresssupport securely at all times against any accidental slip or change ofangle other than such change as may be deliberately intended.

The total absence of all wheels, gears and operative mechanism obviouslymakes for economy of manufacture, and ease of adjustment even byunskilled attendants.

Should it be desired to have the upper partof the patients body inclinedat an angle to the lower part no matter what the angle of the mattresssupport might be, that is, should it be desired to have the patient in areclining position rather than in a supine position, our backrest E maybe used. This is preferably of sheet metal of suflicient thickness orotherwise so ribbed or constructed as to have the necessary stiffness,and is, of course, slipped under the bed clothing or behind the pillowsin the usual way. This rest is provided with two hooks Z which slip overthe cross bar m, should it be desired to raise the patients back stillhigher, the hooks Z would be placed upon the bar it. Angles with themattress support so obtained for the backrest would, of course, besomewhat different according to the position with reference to thehorizontal which the mattress support itself might have. To increase thenumber and range of angles it would be merely necessary to addadditional bars similar to m and n and parallel thereto. Then not inuse, the backrest E is removed and hung on the outside of the bed asshown in Fig. 1. It is thus placed quickly entirely out of the way andyet in a convenient position for quick use when desired.

While we have described our improvements as applied to a bed it is clearthat they may be used with equal advantage in a couch or any usualsubstitute fora bed.

Many changes of detail may be made without departing from the spirit ofour invention which we have embodied in the following claims:

1. In a bed, the combination of a bed frame and an inclinable mattresssupport adapted to pivot as a whole upon each of two parallel axes as anend is raised or lowered, one of said axes being at the other end ofsaid support and the remaining axis between said end and the center ofsaid support, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a bed, the combination of a bed frame and an inclinable mattresssupport adapted to pivot as a whole upon each of two parallel axes as anend is raised or lowered one of said axes being situated in and theother outside of said support.

3. In a bed, the combination of a bed frame and an inclinable mattresssupport adapted to pivot as a whole upon each of two parallel axes as anend is raised or lowered one of said axes having a fixed position as tosaid support and the other being adapted to change its positionrelatively thereto during such change of inclination, substantially asand for the purpose described.

4. In a bed, the combination of a bed frame and an inclinable mattresssupport adapted to pivot as a whole upon each of two parallel axes as anend is raised or lowered one of said axes having a fixed position as tosaid support and the other being adapted to change its positionrelatively thereto during such change of inclination, said axes beingfurther always at an unvarying distance from one another, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

5. In a bed, the combination of a bed frame and an inclinable mattresssupport adapted to pivot as a whole upon either of two axial systems thesystem not used as a pivotal means serving as means to hold said supportat a given inclination, substantially as and for the purpose described.

6. In a bed, the combination of a bed frame and an inclinable mattresssupport adapted to pivot as a whole upon either of two axial systemssaid systems being respectively located between the center and oppositeends of said support and the system not used as a pivotal means servingas means to hold said support at a given inclination, substantially asand for the purpose described.

7 In a bed, the combination of a bed frame and an inclinable mattresssupport adapted to pivot as a whole upon either of two axial systemssaid systems being on opposite sides of the center of said support eachof said systems including two axes of which one in each system maintainsan unvarying distance and the other in each system a varying distancefrom the corresponding axis in the other system as the inclination ofsaid mattress support is changed, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

8. In a bed in combination :-a bed frame, a mattress support, pairs oflinks pivoted to said support on opposite sides of the center thereof,parallel cross bars fixed one to each pair of links, and means fixed tothe bed frame adapted to adjustably enga 'e said cross bars,substantially as and for the purpose described.

9. Ina bed in combination a bed frame, a mattress support, pairs oflinks pivoted to said support on opposite sides of the center thereof,parallel cross bars fixed one to each pair of links, and racks fixed tothe bed frame provided with grooves for engaging said cross bar,substantially as and for the purpose described.

10. In a bed in combination :a bed frame a mattress support, linkspivoted to said support on one side of the center thereof, a cross barfixed to said links, and a rack fixed to the bed frame provided withgrooves for engaging said cross bar, said grooves being inclineddownwardly and toward the center of the bed, substantially as and forthe purpose described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

DANIEL HOGAN. CHRISTIAN W. MEINEOKE.

Witnesses:

ELMER GLoILLYoUNe, JOHN A. KEHLENBECK.

